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The paperback edition of the life-enhancing handbook that sold more than 100,000 copies in hardcover. An inspiring collection of down-to-earth philosophy on subjects ranging from skydiving to decision making, from what to do about a beer belly to how to treat house guests. "Could make even a Klingon grin."--USA Weekend

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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA?Another of the numerous slender volumes that tells readers all they need to know. What Marinaccio does here is to filter life experiences and situations through Star Trek-colored glasses. He uses Captain James T. Kirk, Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Spock, et al., and scenarios from the '60s TV series to illustrate how to make decisions that affect one's work, relationships, relaxation, outlook, and sense of self, etc. The result is a seriocomic, readable book.?John Lawson, Fairfax County Public Library, VACopyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Relying on uncanny instincts and a seriocomic approach, this first-time author strikes very close to home as he cleverly illustrates how we can improve and better understand our lives: apply the morals and lessons portrayed in that American icon known as Star TrekR. Using a hilarious first-person narrative, Marinaccio takes dozens of day-to-day situations and shows how we may glean from this 1960s space opera a more intuitive, aggressive, and successful approach to dealing with them. Citing many examples, including relationships, job satisfaction and management, family, peace, war, love, hate, life, death, and the overall nature of humanity, Marinaccio explains how "every situation you will face in life has already been faced by the crew of the Starship EnterpriseTM." While obsessive Star TrekR fans might be distracted by minute errors in trivia, the author provides a fast, enjoyable, and inspirational read. Well recommended for all public libraries and a strong addition to self-help collections.--Charles A. Weiss, "Library Journal"Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

This is a fun little book chock full of wise sayings gleaned from episodes of the original Star Trek. The original was not a space opera, it was a futurized series of life's lessons, very carefully crafted. Each episode had a heavy-duty message embedded within--and not very hard to spot either. This book does not necessarily include these thematic messages, but it does excerpt a number of pithy, humorous quotes from the characters. It is highly reminiscent of a poster my dentist has in his office of Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. I expect there is also a book with that name, but I haven't read it. These words of wisdom also remind me of Dr. Akin's famous "Laws of Spacecraft Design" which you can access on the internet. With his permission, I used several in my book "The Knowledge Management and Information Technology Encyclopedia" (published by the Government and not for sale). My favorite submits from Marinaccio's delightful book are:

Gossip is often confused with conversation. In fact it often takes the place of conversation. Take gossip away from some folks and they would turn into mimes. p.61

When everyone is responsible, ultimately no one is responsible. p.52

Idiot-proofing is also genius-proofing. p.94

Great people talk about ideas. Average people talk about things. Small people talk about people. p.61

Attitude is the top priority; after attitude, talent or gifts are important. p.64

As Yogi Berra, the great Yankees catcher, once said, "You can observe a lot, just by watching." p.23

A person who understands a rule knows when to break it. p.50

Competent people know which rules to follow and which to ignore ...Read more ›

Okay, I confess: I was amused by this book, and since I suspect that that was most of its intention, perhaps I'm being too harsh in giving it only two stars. And yes, there were some legitimately thought-provoking ideas to be found...but only a few. If you can find this book used, cheap, as I did, it's definitely worthwhile for a lark. But there is DEFINITELY NOT enough book here to be worth list price. It is grossly overpriced to capitalize on the Star Trek market, and that's the source of my dissatisfaction.

as the tittle says, i cant really say anything that the other reviewers haven't said themselves.all i can say is that at first i was expecting it to be kind of corny, like if you encounter an alien energy life form set your phaser to heat to destroy it or if you encounter a giant rock thing use cement to heal its wounds.but it wasn't anything like that, it was good, very entertaining thoughts and ideas about the lessons learned from star trek and how they are related to the authors real life.

This book is a light-hearted examination of important issues in American culture. In Star Trek, we see racism, sexism, career choices,and pretty much anything else you would ever need to know, explored.We aren't always given the pat answer - indeed, part of the vision is that we never reach perfect unity.With Kirk's crew we meet new races - and forget that we ARE different races. We cease being black, white, yellow or red and attain the wonderful experience of being Human.

This is not a 'complete' work on the subject,but it is a very good way to get people to know that there was "meaning in Star Trek" (like a past book had said).There are things that were learned by watching Star Trek,and this book gives a taste of this.The way to read this book (or another of its kind) is to first understand that Star Trek put out messages in the neat form of a fiction TV show--real types of problems in a well done TV program. This book is a good read,and worth the buy.

Do you like Star Trek? Do you really, REALLY like Star Trek? Do you weave some concept of Star Trek into each day of your existence or even each conversation? If so, then this book will be a great little read for you. If not, then stay away.

Strangely, this is easily the most meandering book I've ever read in my life. Basically, author Dave Marinaccio starts talking about Star Trek, in trying to relate its themes to situations within his own life, and doesn't stop for about 120 pages. There are no real chapters, no laid-out themes, just the author gabbing it up with a line break ending each train of thought.

That being said, this is still a rather interesting read for the hard-core (or at least very close to it) Trekkie. Though some of Marinaccio's thoughts/ideas are a stretch, others do indeed strike a chord and will remind you why the show is such a favorite. The real "plus", though, is Marinaccio's subtle humor throughout. It is like reading a book from "The Sports Guy" (Bill Simmons) in the sporting world. The material may be so-so, but the colorful description and delightfully glib commentary make it worthwhile.

Thus, while I wouldn't necessarily rush down to your local bookstore/library to get this book, if you are a hard-core Trekkie and come across it, please give it a look. It's very light reading (one night, two at max) and will, at the very least, make you smile on a dozen or more occasions.